CONNECT LANGUAGE
Ryon Morrin (Hokkaido)
THE OLD SCHOOL WAYS If you’ve ever sat down in a traditional foreign language classroom, you’re probably familiar with dry textbooks full of giant word lists, uninteresting reading passages, and page after page of grammar point explanations that feel impossible to commit to memory. What you retain from the sheer amount of drilling seems insignificant as you progress to the next chapter with less than half of what you “learned” in the last one. You speak and make error after error, sitting on the edge of your seat as you await a swift correction from your teacher (or worse, classmate) that is intended to help you fix your speech, but you will surely make the same mistake again. You overthink it all, fearing embarrassment from mispronouncing a word or stumbling over yourself, producing an entirely incomprehensible string of nonsense in a flustered state. Ah yes, fun times. After a while, many (myself included) hit a rock-solid wall that stands about 50 feet tall; the dreaded intermediate-level plateau. Your understanding is limited. You can communicate some of the things you want to say, but your speech is simplistic, probably
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broken, and almost certainly sounds unnatural. Your writing isn’t much different. What can you do? While traditional classes were a nice introduction to the Japanese language, I focused all of my time and energy on text books, attempting to cram everything into my brain using rote memorization tactics. The truth is, I should have been focusing much less of my time on that. Though I’m beyond grateful for my wonderful, dedicated professors in the U.S. and in Tokyo, my Japanese studies were missing a very important part of the equation: real, native content.
THE SECRET SAUCE: IMMERSION Immersion is what it sounds like: you dive head first into the “real world” of your language of choice and surround yourself with it. It can be intimidating, but anybody who is willing to dedicate the time can do it. Steven Krashen’s research was the starting point, arguing against the old ways and advocating for a different, much more effective approach to second language education.
